Joined: 13 Aug 2006Posts: 1689Location: Marylebone Central London
PotNoodle
Try BBmax speedtest and Thinkbroadband speedtest these are usually good, having said that speedtest.net where you tested is usually quite good too must have been a glitch at the time .
Regards
_________________ ex Freeserve/Wanadoo/Orange Blog
Back in the days of Wanadoo, I ordered a wireless broadband connection for my Dad, who lives in the Welsh borders. Wanadoo had promised speeds of up to 2Mb on his rural exchange. That is exactly what we got! Now, over a year later, the connection is as good as ever and still achieving speeds very close to 2Mb.
It's not hard to understand why, when it came to choosing a new connection for myself in London, I signed up again with Wanadoo. Wanadoo promised me speeds of up to 8Mb on this urban exchange. I have never achieved speeds anywhere near this. I complained. And complained. And complained. I was passed between call centres in India and various parts of the UK. Line tests were performed. However, significantly, NOTHING WAS DONE TO IMPROVE LINE SPEED. Oh, with one bizarre exception: at one point my line was downgraded to 4Mb, with the puprose of improving my speed. Go figure! Needless to say, nothing changed. In fact, if anything the situation is worse, as the connection now spontaneously disconnects.
In any other situation, it would be illegal to sell someone a service and then either not provide it, or provide such a downgraded version of the service that it constitutes a different product. I bought an 8Mb service, but have rarely achieved more than 2.4Mb. This was the result from www.speedtest.net a moment ago (confirmed at www.thinkbroadband.com):
If only the situation had improved over the 11 months since I became a customer; if only Orange had committed themselves to apecific targets for improving the situation; if only Orange had offered me some sort of compensation for all the considerable time and trouble I've taken in trying to get them to provide me with the service they sold me in the first place. If only they had done any one, let alone all Three, of these things, then I would have remained loyal...
As it is, when a company treats it's customers with such appalling contempt, loyalty is one thing it cannot expect in return. I'm now an Orange mobile customer as well and the broadband service is included in the mobile package. Nevertheless, I'm tired of having my concerns ignored and am restless to change. The moment I see a comparable package elsehwere, I'm gone. I've changed before and will have absolutely no problem in changing again.
I totally agree with you Brox, the Orange experience since going "Up to 8 meg" has been terrible. Even now, the same questions are yet to be answered yet more problems are becoming more apparent e.g. email service.
Someone give me a redeeming feature of Oranges service...PLEASE...
On another note, I personally have some misgivings about the consistency and accuracy of Speedtest.net, and people are way too keen to spit a +10000gb/s download result without confirmation...
The reason is that we are compiling a list of exchanges and speeds so that we can show you all (and perhaps mroe importantly Orange) where the troubles are...
We will also get a glimpse into whether anybody is actually getting over the 2.7 Meg speed which is currently the best average speed for those on an 8 meg connection.
We are working on this project now and pages should be available soon - still need to collate more data though!
PRIVACY NOTE: We use any data collected for our own purposes ONLY... WE DO NOT and WILL NOT sell or pass this information on to third parties.
Wow i think thats the fastest speed we've on llu..
Mines no better
This helps me greatly as i was sure that no one fully belivied my actual download speeds has increased to 4 meg up from 2.7 meg max Always synced at 5.6 meg.
Joined: 13 Aug 2006Posts: 1689Location: Marylebone Central London
Its a software firewall Zone Alarm free is the most popular which i use, it lets you control which programmes on your pc can access the internet etc and is a good firewall or there is Zone Alarm Pro, Zone Alarm Security Suite, antivirus and a few more.
_________________ ex Freeserve/Wanadoo/Orange Blog
A note about various speedtesters. Yesterday, in converstaion with customer services at Orange (I'm beginning to feel those two things are mutually exclusive!), I was informed that Orange has changed it's loyalty, with respect to which speed tester it recommends...
It appears that the test on the SpeedTest.net site is not thought to be reliable:
http://www.speedtest.net/
However, needless to say, the question of which tester you choose relates to whether it gives you the information that supports your particular point of view. It's in Orange's interests to choose a tester which slightly exagerates the download speed, and in your interest - assuming you're unhappy with your download speed - to choose one which demonstrates the sluggishness of your connection.
My advice: do them all. Arm yourself with hard-wired and wireless results from all the above testers and you could save yourself some time when talking to Orange.
Good luck.
P.S. - This whole process is starting to make me feel like a train spotter. I've got to get out more!
Interesting findings Brox. I emailed Orange yesterday morning, and they responded later afternoon (most impressed). Anyway, they recommended I used "thinkbroadband.com". I am bit now, so I shall try the other ones that Orange have recommended.
Well I have read all the replys and I have to take my hat off to Orange we all know or should by now LLU is capped at 2.7 not just one exchange but nation wide but will we accept this fact no we still phone Orange support and follow like sheep the crap thay give out as advice
how much longer do we keep asking how fast is your setup and how far do you live from the exchange although this is a factor if the equipment is set at 2.7 all the testing line checks in the world will make no differance
only Orange by making dicision to turn up the DESLAM equipment in the exchanges will give faster speeds
Point of interest later this year Orange will start broadband TV transmission now we all know 2.7 will not do the job whats the betting it gets turned up of course you will be expected to PAY extra for this
In France same equipment same network LLU speeds 5 to 8mb strange that
Maybe its something to do with leaves on the lines in the UK much like the trains makes you think
Or maybe the French dont like the brits shurly not
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now, so I shall try the other ones that 
